Eye exerciser



March 19, 1957 H. F. VICKERS EYE EXERCISER 3 Sheets-Shae; 1

Original Filed May 5, 1949 INVENTOR. HARRY /cwffis March 19, 1957 H. F. VICKERS 2,735,671

EYEEXERCISER Original Filed May 5, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 A 7 TOR/V1915 United States Patent EYE EXERCISER Harry F. Vickers, Detroit, Mich.

Continuation of application Serial- No; 91,617, ivlay 5, 1949'. This application March 21, 1955, Serial No. 495,573

1 Claim. (Cl. 128-765) as by self-operated apparatus, beneficial thought emanat in from the mind of the patient, and other like methods, the patients recovery is greatly speeded and half of the battle of curing the patient is won.

it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus which will encourage everyone to want to exercise his eyes as one of his daily habits as distinguished from exercises in the form' of a compulsory act against which the normal person reacts.

More specifically, itis an object of this invention to provide a device arranged to support a book or magazine in a position for comfortable reading and slowly move the book or magazine so that as the'readers eyes follow the continuously moving printed matter they are subjected to movements which effectively exercise the eye muscles to strengthen them andrestore them to normal condition. By controlling the speed at which the book moves so that the reader is unconscious of the books movement, a person may thus be" induced to voluntarily exercise his eyes regularly and without effort as part of his reading habit.

A further object of the invention resides in the pr vision of an apparatus includingabook holder together with meansfor reciprocating the holder along a path of predetermined variable length and at a predetermined variable speed so that the apparatus can be adjusted to meet the requirements of persons having; different degrees of, muscular Weakness or defects and at" the same time to control the movement of the book or magazine so that it will not produce an uncomfortable effect on or annoyance to the reader. A

Other object in the way of construction and operation will become readily apparent from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device showing the manner in which it may be positioned or supported on the arm of a chair so that a person occupying the chair may exercise his eyes while reading a book supported by the device.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the device.

Figure 3 is a top view of the device having portions broken away to show the drive mechanism for the book holder.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along lines 44 in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along lines 5-5 in Figure 3.

ice

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along lines 6--6 of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a partial sectional. view of the device showing amodifiedform of connection between the-book holder and the driving mechanism.

Figure 8 is a bottom perspective view of the book holder of the modified form of construction.

Figure 9 is a partial perspective view of the trackforthe book holder of modified construction.

The device as illustrated in the drawings includes abase in the form of a housing 10 on which is'supported for longitudinalreciprocal movement a book holder 12. Housing 1% is preferably provided with rubber or felt pads 14 on the bottom face thereof which support the device when it is positioned on the arm of a chair, the

top of a table, or other supporting surface.

In the form of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 through 6 the book holder 12 is fashioned with a ledge 16' and backrest 18' and is provided with a pair of pivotali'ymounted spring clips 1% for supporting a book or magazine in an open condition suitable for reading. The lower portion of book holder 12 is formed as a hollow rectangular base 2%. Within base 26 there are mounted on transverse axes roller 22 which support book holder 12. for rolling movement on the top plate 24 of housing 1d; Base 260 5 book holder 12'is also provided on the underside th'ereof withfapair. of sockets 26 which receive the upper ends of spaced upright arms 23-01 a carrier yoke- 30; Yoke 3% is mounted for sliding movement longitudinally of housing It} by means of apair of rods-32 which extend: longitudinally. within the housing and which are. supported at each end by end frames 34 and 36- fixedlymounted; within the housing at each end thereof.

Yoke. 39 is reciprocated longitudinally of housing 1t} with arms 28* projecting through spaced longitudinal slots 33' in to plate 24 by means of a. shaft provided with a crisscross thread 41'. Shaft do is supported at each end Within bearings 42. formed in end frames 34 and 35.

Yoke 39: is formed with an enlarged central bearing portion 34- which is adapted to slidably engage the threaded portion. 44- of shaft 4%. Within the bearing portion 44 there is disposed at pivoted detent 46 which is arranged to follow the cross threads in shaft 40 and thereby actuate the yoke longitudinaily of the housing when the shaft is rotated.v This drive connection betweenthe carrier yoke and shaft 4% is of conventional designand isarrangcdso that as the yoke reaches one end ofthe threaded: portion of the shaft the detent is pivoted by the thread on the shaft to reverse its direction of travel while the shaft is continuously rotating in one direction.

Within housing 191 at the. rear. end thereof there supported as by a bracket 4% a motor St). A worm gear 54 keyed to the drive shaft 52 of motor 59 meshes with a speed reducing pinion 56 fixed at one end of shaft so that when the motor is operated shaft 4G is rotated and carrier yoke 34? is thereby slowly reciprocated lengthwise of the housing. Motor is preferably of tie variable speed type. A starting and stopping switch 53 and a speed regulating knob 66 are mounted at the front end of housing 19 and connected by suitable wiring with motor 5%) so that the user can conveniently control the operation of the motor and adjust the speed at which the book holder 12 travels back and forth along the housing.

In order to accommodate the device to the requirements of individual readers there is provided in addition to the speed control means just described means for varying the len th of travel of book holder 12. These latter means may be conveniently in the form of a limit switch 62 slidably mounted on one of the guide rods 32. A thumb screw 64 which projects through an elongated slot 66 in the side wall of the housing is threaded into switch 62 so that its end engages rod 32 and retains the switch in any adjusted position along the rod. Switch62 may be in the form of a conventional reversing switch which when actuated by engagement with yoke 30 reverses the direction of rotation of the motor 50. in the drawings switch 62 is shown mounted on rod 32 behind yoke 30 so that as the yoke travels away from the reader it engages the switch at the limit of its rearward movement. This limits the maximum distance between the readers eyes and the book supported by the book holder. If desired, switch 62 may be mounted on rod 32 in front of yoke 30 so that the minimum distance between the book and the readers eyes is controlled.

As is illustrated in Figure 7 book holder 12, if desired, may be connected with shaft 4t) simply by means of a bearing block 68 slidably mounted on shaft 49 and having an upright arm 70 projecting through a central longitudinal slot 72 in plate 24, the upper end of which is received in a socket 74 formed within the base 26 of book holder 12. Bearing block 68 may be operatively connected with shaft 4a by means of the pivoted follower 46 as previously described with reference to yoke 39. In this form of construction the upper plate 24 of housing 10 is fashioned with a pair of longitudinal tracks 76 in which guide rollers 78 mounted within base 20 are adapted to roll for guiding the book holder in a path longitudinally of the housing. In this form of the invention limit switch 62 may be arranged on shaft 40 with the adjusting screw 64 projecting upwardly through the central slot 72 in the top plate 24 of the housing.

in operation the device is positioned so that the book holder 12 is in a comfortable reading position. Accordingly, housing 1% may be positioned on the arm of a chair as is shown in Figure It or on any other supporting surface such as a table top. The cord 86 may then be plugged into an ordinary house electrical outlet and switch 58 actuated to energize the motor. As the motor shaft rotates, worm gear 54 meshes with pinion 56 to rotate shaft 46 in either one direction or the other. Detent 46 follows one of the thread grooves 41 and moves the book holder 12 in either a forwardly or rearwardly direction. The reader then can, by adjusting knob 60 and the position of switch 62, vary the speed and the length of travel of the book holder so that the effect of the movement of the book being read does not produce an uncomfortable effect upon his eyes. Over a period of time the readers eyes will be progressively strengthened and will approach a normal condition. As the readers eyes improve he will find that he may increase the speed at which the book holder moves and the distance at which it travels without producing an irritating or an uncomfortable effect.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides an eye exerciser which will encourage a person to strengthen his eyes without any effort as part of his normal reading,

pulsory act. The provision of means for varying the speed at which the book holder moves back and forth along the housing enables the reader to adjust the device so that he is not consciously aware of the books movement. In addition, the provision of the motor reversing switch as described enables the reader to limit the travel of the book to a range which will not produce excessive strain on his eyes. It will be appreciated, of course, that as the users eyes gradually improve the length of travel of the book holder may be gradually increased until it reaches the full range of the device; that is, a distance corresponding to the length of the threaded portion 41 of shaft 46.

I claim:

An apparatus for encouraging a reader to exercise his eyes as a part of his normal reading habit, comprising a substantially rectangular, portable base having dimensions corresponding to the dimensions of the arm of a chair, a horizontally reciprocable supporting member mounted on said base for holding a book, a backing member mounted on said supporting member, said supporting member and said backing member forming a book support tilted backwardly from a vertical line through said base, whereby a book being read will be .within the comfortable view of a readers eyes positioned well above the level of the base, at least two manually movable members operatively associated with said backing for holding the book open with both pages in a readable position, a motor, power transmitting means operatively connecting said motor with said supporting member for moving it at a predetermined linear speed along a rectilinear path, and means operable after a predetermined length of travel of said supporting member for reversing the direction of movement of said supporting member, a first control means for controlling the rate of speed of movement of said supporting member and a second control means for controlling the length of travel of said supporting member, both of said control means being positioned on the base within the reach and control of the reader seated in a chair having the apparatus on the arm thereof.

References Cited'in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,947,053 Mason Feb. 13, 1934 2,246,687 Katz June 24, 1941 2,570,439 Forca Oct. 9, 1951 

